1834.] ZOOLOGY >-> 



ievel spot where any bushes were growing, was chosen for our night's 

 lodging. Each of the crew took it in turns to be cook. Immediately 

 .the boat was hauled up, the cook made his fire ; two others pitched the 

 tent ; the coxswain handed the things out of the boat ; the rest carried 

 them up to the tents and collected firewood. By this order, in half an 

 hour everything was ready for the night. A watch of two men and an 

 officer was always kept, whose duty it was to look after the boats, keep 

 up the fire, and guard against Indians, Each in the party had his one 

 hour every night. 



During this day we tracked but a short distance, for there were many 

 islets, covered by thorny bushes, and the channels between them were 

 shallow. 



April 20//z. We passed the islands and set to work. Our regular 

 day's march, although it was hard enough, carried us on an average 

 only ten miles in a straight line, and perhaps fifteen or twenty alto- 

 gether. Beyond the place where we slept last night, the country is 

 completely terra incognita, for it was there that Captain Stokes turned 

 back. We saw in the distance a great smoke, and found the skeleton 

 of a horse, so we knew that Indians were in the neighbourhood. On 

 the next morning (2ist) tracks of a party of horse, and marks left by 

 the trailing of the chuzos, or long spears, were observed on the ground. 

 It was generally thought that the Indians had reconnoitred us during 

 the night. Shortly afterwards we came to a spot where, from the fresh 

 footsteps of men, children, and horses, it was evident that the party had 

 crossed the river. 



April 2.2nd. The country remained the same, and was extremely 

 uninteresting. The complete similarity of the productions throughout 

 Patagonia is one of its most striking characters. The level plains of 

 arid shingle support the same stunted and dwarf plants ; and in the 

 valleys the same thorn-bearing bushes grow. Everywhere we see the 

 same birds and insects. Even the very banks of the river and of me 

 clear streamlets which entered it, were scarcely enlivened by a brighter 

 tint of green. The curse of sterility is on the land, and the water flowing 

 over a bed of pebbles partakes of the same curse. Hence the number 

 of waterfowl is very scanty ; for there is nothing to support life in the 

 stream of this barren river. 



Patagonia, poor as she is in some respects, can however boast of a 

 greater stock of small rodents * than perhaps any other country in the 

 world. Several species of mice are externally characterized by large 

 thin ears and a very fine fur. These little animals swarm amongst the 

 thickets in the valleys, where they cannot for months together taste 

 a drop of water excepting the dew. They all seem to be cannibals ; 

 for no sooner was a mouse caught in one of my traps than it was 

 devoured by others. A small and delicately-shaped fox, which is like- 

 wise very abundant, probably derives its entire support from these 



* The deserts of Syria are characterized, according to Volney (torn, i., 

 p. 351), by woody bushes, numerous rats, gazelles, and hares. In the land- 

 scape of Patagonia, the guanaco replaces the gazelle, and the agouti the 



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